Microsoft plans to build a new data centre in South Africa, adding Centurion, near Pretoria, to its existing sites in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The new data centre will be built in Kosmosdal, the same area where NTT’s Johannesburg 1 data centre is located.
“Today, Microsoft published an advertisement in a number of newspapers providing details of its intention to build a data centre campus situated in Kosmosdal, Centurion, Gauteng,” Microsoft said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Still in the early phases of development, Microsoft aims to build out its cloud infrastructure in new areas of South Africa to meet growing demand from public sector and private organisations for cloud and AI services and solutions in Africa,” it said. It didn’t provide details about how large the new facility will be.
Microsoft was the first of the global so-called “hyperscale” public cloud providers to build data centres in South Africa. It was followed by US Big Tech peers Amazon Web Services and Google.
“We look forward to working with the municipality, local organisations and the residents of Kosmosdal as we develop our data centre plans in a sustainable way,” Microsoft said.
Campus
“Microsoft has a 30-year history in South Africa and is committed to accelerating the pace of technology transformation and digital enablement in the country, through key investments in infrastructure, innovation, and skills and enterprise development, to benefit all South Africans.
“This data centre campus represents the next step in Microsoft’s commitment to enabling and accelerating the pace of digital transformation in South Africa, and Africa, in an inclusive, trusted, and responsible manner.”
